


tally marks

by orphan_account



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Falling In Love, Gen, Love, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, typing buzzfeed made me cringe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 04:03:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12161157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Shane's got soft eyes and a tall, gangly frame that has to stoop over to fit into some rooms. His voice is warm and soothing and it sends Ryan's heart into a frenzy.A black mark, a sign of falling in love, burns into the crook of his elbow, apart from the other ones, and it glows a sort of off-orange.





	tally marks

Shane has only two tally marks to Ryan's twenty. 

Neither of them are blue. That hurts Ryan's heart. Blue's the colour of love, after all, and Shane's the most lovable guy he knows. He's the perfect mix of different traits that everyone loves and nobody hates. So why wouldn't anyone have truly, undeniably loved him?

Shane's got soft eyes and a tall, gangly frame that has to stoop over to fit into some rooms. His voice is warm and soothing and it sends Ryan's heart into a frenzy.

A black mark, a sign of falling in love, burns into the crook of his elbow, apart from the other ones, and it glows a sort of off-orange.

Oh, God.

Ryan looks at the mark and realises that it's because of Shane. He's fallen in love with Shane.

(The next day, he notices a blue mark on Shane's wrist and notices how Shane stares at it longingly. Ryan wants to tell Shane that it's his mark, that it's him who loves him.

...He doesn't.)

Ryan notices a blue mark on his wrist a few days later. He doesn't question the off-red light he sees at Shane's elbow a few days later. 

God.

"Fuck," Ryan hisses. It's not angry, just soft. Pained. Ryan doesn't know why he swears. It's just stress. Possibly just stress. (Oh, it's definitely not, he just... he doesn't know how to deal with the soulmate mark

Shane yells out to him. "Are you okay?" 

Ryan calls back, "I'm fine! Just stubbed my toe and it really fuckin' hurt."

Shane doesn't question it.

"Do you ever wonder what it feels like to be loved?" Ryan asks. He's only got one blue mark on his wrist and he thinks it's from Shane. It's only been there for a few days.

Shane, who's looking at his wrist and smiling fondly, who says the most wondrous things, smiles. "Yeah. But there's this mark, and it's only been getting warmer since it appeared, so I'm glad." For a skeptic, he's quite fond of his blue-mark. "I wonder who it is."

Ryan's face splits in a sort-of smile and he brushes his fingers over Shane's knuckes. "I'm glad someone loves you."

Shane smiles. "I'm glad too."

Ryan tries to ignore the sad, desperate beating of his heart.

Steven sucks in a breath when he sees the way Ryan looks at Shane. "You love him, don't you." It's not a question, an ask. It's a statement.

Ryan sighs. "Yeah."

He's pulled into a hug, sudden and quick, and Steven whispers an, "I'm sorry, Ry," into his hair.

Neither of them notice Shane stood around the corner.

A week or so later, they're at some old, supposedly haunted house in Lawrence, Kansas. Ryan's scared but not as much as usual. Shane's as blank as usual.

Shane's eyes are drooping shut, lids falling half closed over brown and head lolling forwards. Ryan smiles fondly, closed-lipped, the tally mark on his arm flaring up bright. Shane doesn't see it. Instead, he feels it.

He feels heat flaring up from the blue-mark, and sends out a pulse of warmth through just his thoughts. Ryan whimpers slightly - it's almost uncomfortably warm.

Shane's eyes blink open.

"Oh," he says through a yawn. "Oh."

"Um." Ryan sucks in a breath. "Uh. Hi."

Shane sucks in a breath. "Hello." He pauses. "You're very pretty, Ryan."

He fights back a blush and feels a swirling warmth in his tally mark.

Shane pulls him closer. His breath ghosts over Ryan's skin. "I heard what you said, the other day."

Ryan gulps. "Oh?" 

"Yeah. And I just wanted to say," and at this Shane pulls him close, "that I think I love you." 

Shane brushes his lips against Ryan's, then, and when his hands cup Ryan's cheeks it sends sparks through his skin. He reaches his hands behind Shane, slips them around his neck, drinks in the heat and the beating of his heart. 

The red tally mark on his elbow stretches and morphs into a sleeve of roses that crawls up to his neck. Ryan gazes at Shane's arm and sees the same pattern swirl up to his collarbone. 

When they break apart, Ryan's heart is beating fast and there's a whine pitched with desparation building in his throat.

"You know what," Shane says cheerily.

Ryan hums. "What?"

"I definitely love you."


End file.
